Color Coded for Your Convenience
by lifeisawesome
Summary: A life of travel is made easier when you visit home every so often. Kurogane knows this almost as well as Syaoran. Now if only that blond bastard would just stop wearing girls' clothes... KuroFai


With the help of Mokona Modoki and the feathers that held the essence of the universes, the four of them- Syaoran, Kurogane, Fai, and Mokona- had been back to Nihon. It was always a good time for Kurogane. Though his manner and expression were the same as always, his companions could always tell that he enjoyed being in his home country, truly and deeply. He loved and took pride in his country, his heritage, his people, and his princess. His companions felt content watching Kurogane in his element (though Fai insisted on deaming it "a big strong Kuro-woofy in his natural habitat"). They all took something different from it. Syaoran appreciated that even though they had to travel so much, Kurogane could still visit his home. Fai just loved teasing his little Kuro-puppy around the people who respected him and especially those that feared him.

Fai would waltz through the training grounds, "whistling" and giving his ninja words of "encouragement."

"Hyuu~! Good job, Kuro-tin! You're so manly Kuro-chi! Wow, Kuro-popo, you're the strongest one here!" he'd exclaim from the edge of the grounds, so not to interfere with the spars. He'd embarrass Kurogane relentlessly in front of Kurogane's _own men_. Warriors that Kurogane had _trained and mentored_. Men whom he had fought with most his life. It was beyond humiliating. They were all shocked of course. They had never felt so at ease with their mentor. Since when had he become so… for lack of a better word, relaxed?

While they had known that Kurogane would protect them fiercely on the battle field before the princess set him on his journey, they had also never doubted that he would kill them without the least of hesitation if he had to. The ninja made it clear how he felt about them, but the ninjas could never be sure. They were comrades, brothers-in-spirit, but the doubt still remained. Kurogane was too distanced from them to be comfortable. Too blood-thirsty. Too volatile. But it was different now, they could tell. The journey had changed their role model. They saw this change very easily. Kurogane wasn't more lenient, no, or soft (and they'd repeatedly get beaten to near death if they said so) but he was more understanding. He didn't have his "lone-wolf" vibe anymore. Yet it still astounded them that the blond foreigner could call the explosive ninja such ridiculous names and not be murdered by Kurogane in cold blood right then and there.

They had all come to the obvious conclusion. Of course, the furisode had been a helpful hint in reaching it, but it was hard to believe. It was a ludicrous idea, really. The ninja had never shown interest in men. He hadn't shown much interest in women either, actually. The warriors had always known that Kurogane would rather kill someone than screw them. Strength first. Gin-ryuu second. Duties third. All spare time spent in training. Most time spent in guarding. Hell, seeing him so attached to the brat was new in itself. It looked like the ninja had his own make-shift family.

They had all assumed that Tomoyo-hime was playing her games again. The theory that she would play a prank on the (previously) blood-thirsty psychopath by insinuating that he had a lover was almost a given. But when the people of Nihon saw how the two acted around each other… well, it led to some reconsideration.

Kurogane was not oblivious to this. He knew what they thought. He didn't give a shit what they thought of his love-life. It was the blond he had issues with. When he saw the dumb ass wearing women's clothes, he just about lost it. Sure, he hadn't thought much of it when they reached Nihon after Celes was destroyed. He was more concerned about the obvious- losing an arm, just barely escaping death-the both of them- finding out the idiot's whole damn past, secret after secret that the blond had hidden from him... them… But the second visit made it painfully apparent that the idiot mage had no sense of male pride.

In Kurogane's opinion, regardless of preference, men should act like men. No girly crap, or idiocy. They should be strong and able to fight and…and… NOT IN GIRLS' CLOTHES. They should be men! Warriors!

But he was also a man of tradition; pride he had a lot of too. And in his pride-it was a tradition, and pride in tradition that he- ridiculously-had _liked_ Fai wearing a furisode.

"No, really, it was just a convenience. That's the real reason," he'd rationalize. It's convenient for his lover boyfriend companion partner the idiotic mage to wear a freakin' furisode. It was the easiest way for the freaking idiotic lusty bastards of his country to understand that they were not to touch Fai. And they would understand that without anyone getting the stupid idea that Kurogane was soft, or a sweetheart, or whatever lovey-dovey shit idiots tended to spew. Because he wasn't going to make any formal announcement of his relationship like some love-sick fool. And it would be a pain in the ass getting scolded and punished by Tomoyo-hime for castrating and maiming the "poor, misguided warriors for whom the long and active duty of protecting her had been such a burden" (bull. Shit.) who Just. Couldn't. Keep. Their _hands to themselves_. Kurogane just didn't feel like dealing that idiocy.

And it _was_ tradition, dammit! The lovers of warriors were supposed to wear them! So, really, it was okay. He was a man, wearing traditional clothes for a man, who just happened to do illicit things with other men. Or something. Dammit. Damn it all.

His long-standing dedication to his culture (deep inside) screamed that it was perfect. That Fai looked perfect in his god-dammed furisode. And hell, if it didn't feel like home. It was perfect that Fai fit so well in his home, and Kurogane could never finish that thought before he yelled at himself for being so dammed mushy. And he hated that it always led to him thinking of things he didn't think of in other worlds. Things like how he knows his parents would love Fai and how well they would get along and how it would have made him happy that they'd be so close… He would start yelling at himself again, and then storm off to find something to do that would distract him from such embarrassing and disgusting thoughts.

The third visit to Nihon (second after Fei Wong Reed had been defeated), he was found by Tomoyo-hime in a storage room, riffling through what little that was left of his family's heirlooms.

"Your new arm seems to be working well, Kurogane-san? It seems you've visited my other self. I hope she took good care of you." she stated, peeking in from the doorway.

He grunted. He could do without the pleasantries. "Whattaya want?"

She smiled, knowingly. Kurogane had changed so much, yet his quirks were still so similar.

"You seem to be searching for something…" she said. Kurogane was sure she knew what.

"I'm just going through my old mementos. I haven't gone through them in too long." Like hell he was going to say it out loud though.

"So much was destroyed…" she trailed, saddened, as she gazed at her best bodyguard's possessions. All he had managed to salvage from the wreck of his old home had been able to fit in only a few trunks.

"They were just possessions," he grumbled, knowing she understood he didn't quite mean it. He had lost so much that day. The physical wreckage was a trifle compared to his emotional state. The emotional losses. What he had managed to save was very dear to him, though it was only a small condolence for the loss. But his tone also conveyed that he had moved on. He had a new family now, a new home, and a new way of life.

Kurogane finished his search as he pulled a black and red furisode from the trunk.

Tomoyo-hime smiled, he wasn't even trying to hide true. "Ah. So that's what you were looking for. Aren't you against, as you so crudely put so many times, 'him looking like a girly dumbass'?" she asked, grinning as she quoted his complaint.

"Hmph. If the idiot insists on acting stupid and wearing girls' clothes, he might as well wear these," his words were steady, but his slight blush gave him away as he turned to re-organize the chest.

Both knew it wasn't the sole reason, but Tomoyo-hime accepted the answer for Kurogane's sake. She smiled at him.

"What a coincidence that out of all the things that survived, what you wanted was amongst it!"

He gave her a wry smile, "Coincidence, huh? You know better than I do that that isn't it." She didn't reply, and kept smiling. Kurogane closed the trunk and stepped toward her, handing her the robes. He grunted. "They weren't from me."

"Of course they are. Black and red go against Fai-chan's complexion and personality. Why would I give him such unsuitable clothing unless they were from you?" she informed him as she accepted the cloth.

Kurogane grumbled, "Whatever."

"It'll make him happy," she added.

"Why would I care if-!" Kurogane shouted, before he was interrupted.

"Because you know just as well as I do that this is the closest thing to a proposal Fai-chan could ever hope to receive from you."

Kurogane twitched. Like hell was this anything like a proposal. He opened his mouth to protest.

"Now I think it's time you got back to you companions," she intereupted quickly as she heard calls from Syaoran, calling out for Kurogane.

With a parting glare, Kurogane stalked off, looking for the brat as he left Tomoyo-hime behind. It was embarrassing and he felt like a idiot love-sick bastard, but if the damn mage was going to wear a freaking furisode, the damn mage was going to wear his family's freaking furisode. Because- goddammit- if it was happening, he was not going to leave one doubt in those idiot warriors' minds whose lover the magician was. Just who they would be dealing with if they tried any funny business.

It had nothing to do with the fact that Kurogane liked Fai in a furisode, or that to Kurogane, Fai in a furisode felt like home, or that Kurogane knew deep down that it made Fai seem closer to his family than ever. And it especially had nothing to do with the fact that Kurogane loved that blond bastard, regardless of what he was willing to say.

And it _did_ help that the mage looked like walking sex in them…


End file.
